Now that Scott Parker is settled into the hot seat at West Ham United, the objective is clear: end this poor run of form and mount a convincing challenge back into the Premier League.
After being relegated last season, West Ham were instantly everyone’s favourites to launch themselves right back into the big time, but it’s been a testing campaign thus far, with Nuno Espirito Santo sacked after failing to inspire the form and confidence expected.
West Ham have the players to win the Championship, let alone cling onto the play-off zone and battle their back back up through a final at Wembley.
But Parker’s first two game in charge have yielded only one point.
Where West Ham need to improve
Despite a slow start, the mood at West Ham is one of optimism. The one-time Hammers midfielder is a man manager, someone who is skilled at galvanising his troops.
Fixing the squad’s mentality will be among the 46-year-old’s first ports of call, and he draws upon his captaincy experience with West Ham, Fulham and even the Three Lions there. Three times he has managed in the Championship, and all three times, his outfits have secured promotion to the Premier League.
Defensively, West Ham have been abject in recent weeks, watching their hopes of becoming the team to beat in the Championship unravel like a loose ball of string. Mads Hermansen has been abject between the sticks, saving only 54% of his shots faced across 15 fixtures.
Hermansen has been poor, but he’s not the only one failing to prevent goals being conceded in east London. Max Kilman and co have struggled in defence, and Nuno proved unable to find the right balance in midfield. Slow starts and a lack of a clear playing identity proved the final nail in the coffin there, but Parker will be buoyant about his chances.
After all, West Ham chiefs believe they have the best squad in the Championship.
Why West Ham can return to the Premier League
Aside from the fact that this is one of the most expensive and star-studded squads in the Championship, closer analysis suggests that West Ham’s ferocious strike-force could hand Parker the keys to promotion.
|
West Ham Top Scorers 26/27 (Championship) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Apps |
Goals |
|
Jarrod Bowen |
15 |
7 |
|
Konstantinos Mavropanos |
13 |
5 |
|
Divine Mukasa |
13 |
4 |
|
Joel Piroe |
14 |
4 |
|
Tomas Soucek |
7 |
3 |
|
Mohamadou Kante |
14 |
3 |
Fixing the backline is of course imperative, but Parker has quite the frontline at his disposal, and no side have scored more goals than the Hammers’ 37 in the Championship.
The striker’s curse plagues this club still, though. There has been an even spread in regard to output. However, the strikers aren’t finding prolific form, and that would not only raise Parker’s side’s attacking threat, but establish greater balance from head to toe.
Taty Castellanos and Pablo have one goal each in the Championship this term, and Piroe has only four across 14 matches.
West Ham have had some stinkers over the years at No. 9. Think Simone Zaza with no goals from 11 games after joining from Juventus on a £5m loan deal before a £20m purchase option which never activated.
So much expectation, but the Italy forward didn’t make the grade, and now, it looks like West Ham have found another Zaza – and he mustn’t play against for the east Londoners.
Big-money West Ham star won’t wear the shirt again
It goes to show that more thought needs to go into signing Prem-level attackers capable of making their mark at the London Stadium. It’s not the first time West Ham have misfired when signing a centre-forward tipped for success, with Fullkrug indeed finding himself walking in Zaza territory.
The talent was there. Zaza had risen to prominence in Italy with Sassuolo, but he failed to adapt in England and found only sporadic success thereafter.
Now, it looks like Niclas Fullkrug is the latest high-quality striker to be remembered unfondly with the Irons. Having joined West Ham from Borussia Dortmund for £27m in 2024 after an emphatic EUROs campaign with Germany, the 33-year-old struggled for both fitness and form, and he scored only three times before being loaned out to AC Milan after a year-and-a-half.
Admittedly, Fullkrug is now riding the crest of a wave back in Germany, having posted 12 goals from ten games with Werder Bremen, but it would be a terrible mistake for the veteran to be reintegrated at the London Stadium. He is both ageing and has a poor track record at the club – would West Ham see the same version of the German goalscorer?
West Ham clearly need to make some fundamental cultural changes. Bringing Fullkrug back, even if Parker orchestrates a resounding return to the Premier League, would be to repeat the same old mistakes which have landed West Ham in the second tier.
